Washing machine having elliptical, inflated, squeezing, and scrubbing rollers



Filed Nov. 25, .1547

S. FEKETE WASHING MACHINE HAVING ELLIPTICAL, INFLATED, SQUEEZING, AND SCRUBBING ROLLERS Sheets-Shget 2 Zhwentor:

,5 TEPHE/V 2T .FEKETE Ciiiornegs- Patented July 4, 1950 WASHING MACHINE HAVING ELLIPTICAL,- INFLATED, SQUEEZING, AND SCRUBBING ROLLERS Stephen 1. Fekete, Grosse Pointe Park, Mich.

Application November 25, 1947, Serial No. 788,016

6 Claims. 1

My present invention relates to washing machines for domestic use and has for its object a cheap machine of easy construction which will be less destructive to clothes and yet be capable of doing thorough work.

Heretofore domestic washing machines, while comparatively ineffective for the purposes for which they are intended, have been extremely destructive of clothes, tearing garments and other articles and pulling off or breaking buttons and hooks and other fastening devices.

As is well understood by the housewife and the laundress, clothes are most effectively cleaned by alternate rubbing and squeezing. This is the action to'which the laundress subjects clothes. The machine embodying my present invention depends largely for its effectiveness on the alternate rubbing and squeezing which it gives the goods which are being washed.

The washing machine embodying my present invention is characterized particularly by the use of a pair of compressible, resilient elliptical rotating members which are preferably hollow and inflated with air. As these washing members rotate their opposed surfaces alternately approach and recede from each other, and therefore impart a squeezing action to the clothes. Furthermore the peripheral speed of the opposing surfaces of the two washing members is different at practically all times throughout the cycle of movement, and the surface of one member is moving faster than the opposing surface of the other member. This gives a combined rubbing and squeezing action to the clothes which corresponds to that imparted by the hands of a laundress. The two members are rotated by simple gearing and preferably by an electric motor and therefore construction is extremely simple. Since the washing members are non-rigid and are flexible, resilient members, there is no danger even if the operator gets her fingers or arm between the washing members. The machine may be made so that it may be supported on the top of an ordinary open wash tub or it may be built into a washing machine having integral walls enclosing the space in which the washing takes place. In practice, however, it is convenient to have the machine supported on the top of an open top tub where the operator can easily supervise the operation of the machine.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation, partly in section on the line l--l of Fig. 2, of the washing apparatus placed in an ordinary set tub;

Fig. 2 is a section taken substantially on the line 24 of Fig- 1;

the apparatus shown and illustrating their rubbing and squeezing action.

In the drawings I have shown the machine applied to an ordinary set tub since that is the form in which I prefer to make it. In the figures the tub is indicated at A. At B is indicated a frame provided with a handle C. This frame is,

hinged at D to clamps E and F secured to the back of the set tub. The handle C is provided with a clamp G so that it also can be secured to the front of the tub. In this way the washing machine is supported on back and front of the tub and can be turned up out of the tub for removal of clothes or for the purpose of cleaning the tub, or can be removed entirely from the tub if required.

At l 0 and H are shown the two washing members. These are generally elliptical in cross section and preferably resilient. The preferred form comprises a rubber outer casing provided with ribs l3 and an inner lining l4 corresponding to the inner tube of a tire. The casing is provided with a head 20 by which it is secured to a head l5 by means of a clamping ring it. The head I5 is provided with an upwardly extending hollow spindle I8 which passes through hearingsin a suitable enlargement of the frame B. The hollow spindle provides a passage for the inflation tube M of the inner lining l4 and this is provided at its upper exposed end with a spring-closed air valve 22 and cap 23 such as are used on pneumatic tires. This arrangement permits the washing members to be inflated as required. A relatively low air pressure is used in the washing members I0 and l I. From 5 to 10 pounds is ordinarily-sufficient. This tends to maintain the washing members in their elliptical shape but allows them to be distorted during each cycle of operation of the machine. The spindle l8 of each washing member is provided with a gear 24 which mesh with each other. One of the gears 24 meshes with a pinion '25 located on the shaft 26 of a driving motor indicated at 21. This driving motor may be of any convenient type or the machine may be operated by a hand-crank. It will thus be seen that the motor or hand crank rotates the washing members through the pinion 25 and gears 24 and that the washing members rotate in opposite directions.

Each of the two elliptical washing members are mounted for rotation about an axis which through the center of the ellipse formed by the cross section of the memberand not through one of the foci as is the case with elliptical gears or elliptical members in rolling contact. By mounting the gears as described the space between the opposing surfaces of the two members constantly varies as the members ro tate, alternately increasing and diminishing Consequently as the clothes to be washed are drawn into the space between the two members and are forced through it they are intermit-' tently compressed and subjected to a squeezin action which forces the water into and through the interstices in the fabric. At the same time and as explained already, the clothes are rubbed because the surface of one washing member is travelling faster than the opposing surface of the other washing member, this difference in speed being constantly varied, the surface of one memher at one time being the faster moving surface to differences in thickness of the mass .of clothes passing between them. The action of the two washing members will be understood more clearly from the examination of Figures 4 to '7 which show successive positions of the washing members. In Fig. 4 the long axes are at right angles to each other and the space between the two members, which space is designated a, is at the minimum. Also the surface of the member II which is in contact with the clothes and is nearest the other member III, is travelling at considerably greater peripheral speed although the angular movement of the two members is the same. in Fig. 5 the two members are shown with their long axes parallel to each other and at about 45 to the line passing through their centers. At this time the space between the two members is at the maximum and the speed of the surfaces at the narrowest point between them is approximately the same. In Fig. 6 the two members have rotated about 45 from their previous position and again the gap between them has closed to-the minimum and the diiference in surface speeds is at a maximum. In Fig. 7 the members have turned 45" further and here the distance between the members is at a maximum and the difference in surface speed is again at a minimum. By this means I am able to approximate closely the squeezing and rubbing which a person gives to clothes when washing them by hand.

The distortable elliptical form of the washing members also helps to feed the clothes through the gap between them, since the member whose long axis is changing from a position at right angles to the line between the centers to a position with the long axis coincident with this line, for instance during the change of washing member ill in Fig. 4, to its position as shown in Fig. 5 tends to crowd the clothes lying between the two members into the gap between them while in the following change of position (see Figs. 5, 6 and 7) the same member tends to eject the clothes from the gap. Further assistance in ejecting the clothes from the gap is rendered by the combined peripheral and centrifugal forces of the members when in the relative positions indicated in Figs. 5 and "I.

I claim:

1. A washing machine including a pair of cooperating resilient compressible washing members of elliptical cross section, mounted for rotation about their central axes and exerting alternating squeezing and rubbing action on material passing between them.

2. A washing machine including a pair of cooperating inflated resilient compressible washing members of elliptical cross section mounted for rotation about their central axes and exerting alternating squeezing and rubbing action on material passing between them.

3. In a washing machine and in combination, a pair of cooperating compressible washing members of elliptical cross section mounted for rotation about their central axes and exerting alternating squeezing and rubbing action on material passing between them, and means for rotating said washing members in opposite directions at uniform angular speeds.

4. In a washing machine and in combination, a frame, a .pair of cooperating compressible washing members of elliptical cross section, heads mounted on said frame and supporting said members and arranged for rotation aboutthe central axis of said members, a gear on each of said heads, said gears meshing with each other, and a motor to drive said gears said compressible washing members exerting alternating squeezing and rubbing action on material passing between 5. In a washing machine and in combination, a frame, a pair of cooperating compressible washing members of elliptical cross section, heads supporting said members and having hollow spindles rotatably mounted in the frame, a gear on each of said spindles, said gears meshing with each other, an airtight lining inside said members, said lining being provided with an inflation tube extending through said hollow member and an air-valve closing said tube to prevent escape of air therefrom said compressible washing members exerting alternating squeezing and rub bing'action on material passing between them.

6. In a washing machine, a pair of cooperating rotatable elongated, hollow, inflated compressible members, each supported entirely by a head secured at one end thereof, said members being held distended and with their peripheral surfaces in cooperative relation with each other by gas under pressure contained within said members.

STEPHEN I. FEKEIE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the flie of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 751,836 Cumback Feb. 9, 1904 922,488 Lauterbach May 25, 1909 2,228,853 Skinner Jan. 14, 1941 

